House Democrats arrested at immigration rally. Why?
| WASHINGTON
At least eight Democratic members of the House were among about 200 people arrested聽Tuesday after they blocked a main street near the Capitol during a massive rally seeking to push Republicans to hold a vote on a stalled immigration reform bill.
Police would not identify those聽arrested. Representatives of the social policy organization Center for Community Change and The Associated Press witnessed the聽arrests聽of Democratic Reps. John Lewis of Georgia, Luis Guti茅rrez of Illinois, Ra煤l Grijalva of Arizona, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Joseph Crowley of New York, Charles Rangel of New York, Al Green of Texas, and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.
Representatives of other groups whose members attended the rally, such as United Farm Workers and Farmworker Justice, confirmed that several of their members were聽arrested聽as well.
Those聽arrested聽will be charged with "crowding, obstructing and incommoding" under the local laws of the District of Columbia, the Capitol Police said. The聽arrests聽began about 4 p.m. EDT and had ended two hours later, police said in a statement.
Before being聽arrested, Guti茅rrez said he planned the act of civil disobedience "so the speaker of the House can free聽Congress聽and finally pass immigration reform."
The rally took place after the six-time Grammy winners Los Tigres del Norte performed at the National Mall during a show in which the Mexican band dedicated each song to the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.
Prospects for passage of a comprehensive immigration bill appear dim. A bill passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate and backed by the White House includes billions of dollars for border security as well as a 13-year path to citizenship for those already in the U.S. illegally.
It's unclear whether the GOP-dominated House will ever pass legislation that could form the basis for a final deal with the Senate. Most House Republicans have rejected this comprehensive approach, and the House Judiciary Committee has moved forward with individual, single-issue immigration bills that could come to the floor sometime later this year or next.
Citing the demonstration, the White House issued a statement calling for the House to take up the immigration bill.
"The enthusiastic demonstration of support for immigration reform this week has proven to聽Congress聽that the broad coalition behind commonsense solutions to our nation's broken immigration laws is as strong as it has ever been," according to the statement from press secretary Jay Carney. "It's time for the House of Representatives to reopen the government, pay their bills and get back to the important work of moving the economy forward."
